I'm Voting For Mr. Target

Something not clear in this already incredible self-own of a chart is that "Target" isn't even "the goal we need to hit to prevent climate catastrophe." Target is just "What Biden pledged to hit back in 2021." It's less aggressive than what the EU or the UK say they're targeting. https://t.co/xULAsZGDBc

— austin walker (@austin_walker) April 22, 2024

Think before putting "a little less evil than the other guys" in easy to process chart form.

Such Competence

I know I've asserted many times that the obsessive focus on elite universities is ridiculous, and it is, but this stuff fits in with my favorite more general theme - elite mendacity and incompetence.

Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests at US college campuses in recent days, says all classes at its main campus will be hybrid — technology permitting — until the spring semester ends.

“Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students’ learning and all the required academic operations,” the university said in an announcement Monday night.

It's the behavior of the people in charge that matters, not that of the students. It's the latter that other powerful people (New York Times editors and pundits) obsess about, because they are mad at their own children for hating them.

Somebody's Rich Daddy Threatened To Sue

Can't swing the bat too hard at these universities or you might take out somebody who matters.

“My email regarding the protest at Grove and Prospect was mistaken and I apologize for the suggestion that the protesters might turn violent,” Lewis wrote to the News in the late afternoon. “I was repeating speculation I had overheard and I should not have done so.”

— Yale Daily News (@yaledailynews) April 22, 2024

University administrators, just the top talent.

Morning

I'm starting to suspect that many people in power are just bad, stupid people.

Monday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

Get happy

VGER

It has returned to life.

Luck

Will Elon's finally run out?

Everyone Is Either Churchill or Chamberlain

You don't have to think much of Churchill (you probably shouldn't) to get that agreeing to put a budget up to vote does not merit any comparison with being the WWII wartime PM of the UK.

Lunch

Shop while you eat! (Ad, I get a commission).

I Suppose The Harvard Bureau Of The NYT Needs To File Regularly

 

Shunning

It is Good, Akshually to shun people who are bigots, who believe in a hierarchy of people that rejects the humanity of most people.  And good to shun those who don't see the need for this.

Yes you probably have to be civil to your asshole brother-in-law.  That isn't what I'm talking about.

Covers a lot of our prominent journalists and Thinkfluencers, who are bigots themselves or find no problem tolerating it (in fact, consider the intolerance of bigots more troubling than the bigots).

Oh No Elmo

He's desperately trying to loot Tesla before it implodes, and it's pretty likely he'll succeed.

But even by Tesla standards, this year has been unruly. Its stock has slid more than 40% amid slumping sales, confusing product decisions and more price cuts. Its once-dominant position in China’s EV market is under assault. A visit with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an anticipated investment announcement was called off at the last minute. All the while, the board has tried to revive a $56 billion payout to Musk that a judge voided in January, on the grounds that directors had acted as “supine servants” to the CEO.

On Tuesday, Tesla is expected to report a 40% plunge in operating profit and its first revenue decline in four years. Musk has ordered up the company’s biggest layoffs ever and staked its future on a next-generation, self-driving vehicle concept called the robotaxi. People familiar with his directives, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations, are unsettled by the changes the CEO wants to push through.

Even a pretty negative article about Tesla has this: 

The idea of creating an autonomous taxi service has been kicking around Tesla for at least eight years, but the company has yet to stand up much of the infrastructure it would need, nor has it secured regulatory approval to test such cars on public roads. For the moment, Musk has put off plans for a $25,000, mass-market vehicle that many Tesla investors — and some insiders — are pushing for and believe is crucial to the carmaker’s future.

Ah, yes, that idea has just been "kicking around."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company should have robotaxis on the roads in 2020.

And (2019):

Elon Musk has made quite an important claim about Tesla vehicles today; the CEO said that Tesla’s vehicles are now ‘appreciating assets’ due to their self-driving capability.

One more grand stock pump before it falls apart, though I've thought that before!

Also, this is genius business brain.

The actual number of people ushered out may exceed 20,000, according to people familiar with the company’s planning. Musk’s reasoning, according to one person with direct knowledge of his edicts, was that Tesla should reduce headcount by 20% because its vehicle deliveries dropped by that amount from the fourth quarter to the first quarter.

I think this is claiming it's "learning" now instead of just reacting, which is what Tesla fanboys believed for years.

Cameras placed around the company’s cars are taking in video and using this footage to dictate how the vehicle drives, instead of relying on software code. Ashok Elluswamy, a director of Tesla’s Autopilot program, wrote on X last month that this should lead to “unprecedented progress.”

Monday

My list grows longer and longer, or shorter and shorter, depending on how you look at it.

Sunday Night

Rock on.

Amazing Stuff

Probably everyone will forget about it tomorrow.

BASH: So you voted yes on the foreign aid package. Do you have confidence that, at this point, given that it is still possible that Marjorie Taylor Greene will push to vacate, to kick him out of the speaker's chair, that he can survive?

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): He will survive.

Look, the House is a rough and rowdy place, but Mike Johnson is going to be just fine. I served 20 years in the military. It's my absolute honor to be in Congress, but I serve with some real scumbags.

Look, Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with them at drug parties. Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi. These people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they're walking around with white hoods in the daytime.

What Are We Doing Here

Does anything make sense?

Incompetent

Being academia-adjacent, I'm often struck by how incompetent administrators can be (#notalladministrators). Sometimes what seems like incompetence is just them doing their actual job, but that job isn't what you think it is, should be, or what they claim it is (implicitly or explicitly). However, often they're incompetent at carrying out their actual mission!

Whatever "problem" the Columbia president thinks she is trying to solve, she isn't solving it!   

The Future Of The Democratic Party

An African-American cop who pretended to be a "police reformer" but obviously wasn't was the perfect guy to "stick it to the lefties." Suddenly the winner of a 5-away primary (!) in New York City (!!) was obviously what Middle America (centrist dipshit pundit bros) desperately wanted.

NYC - Mayoral Vote:

Someone Else: 65%
Adams: 16%

Unsure: 19%

Manhattan Institute / April 11, 2024 / n=700 pic.twitter.com/gIwh6g5PBM

— Polling USA (@USA_Polling) April 21, 2024

It's probably foolish to think a NYC mayor will successfully translate into being a national political figure, but I still think Eric Adams would be in my top 5 for "who will be the next Democratic presidential nominee after Joe Biden?".

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) January 3, 2022

I actually don't think the political appeal of "centrism," as defined by DC political journalists, is always incorrect, but trying to make Adams the standard-bearer of that was hilarious.

Morning

Sunday funday.